Not So Merry Christmas
by lawliets
Summary: It's time for the holidays and Ninja Academy is celebrating with Secret Santas! Just in time, because Sakura is looking to impress Sasuke, and she has the perfect gift! But what happens when her plans don't go as she hoped? Happy Holidays!


(A/N) Hey! I wrote this story in the spirit of the holiday. I hope you guys like it! Reviews are also accepted…

PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!

"Okay class, I know it's the last week before the winter break and you probably don't want to see my face up here talking to you guys. Am I right?" Kakashi spoke to the Ninja academy early Monday morning.

"You bet," shouted Rock Lee from his seat in the back.

"That was a rhetorical question! You couldn't see my face even if you had wanted to – I'm wearing a mask! And for being so stupid, I want you to clean up the school yard after class!"

"But sir," Rock Lee complained standing up. "It's -31 degrees Celsius out there! I'll freeze!"

"Well maybe you should have thought of that before you acted like such an idiot," Kakashi replied, turning back to the chalk board.

"And maybe you should buy another mask to cover up your butt ugly face." Lee mumbled before sitting down.

The class gasped. Kakashi put his chalk down and whirled around to face the rebelling student. "What was that, Mr. Lee?"

"N-nothing sir," Lee stammered.

"Nothing?"

"I f-forgot what I said."

"Well perhaps you can remember what it was and tell me during your break!" The class gasped once again.

"WHAT?" Lee cried. "But I'm going to Florida to see the Jonas Brothers!"

"Yeah, and I'm going to Mexico to tango with Miley Cyrus! Sit down!" Lee reluctantly sat down, grumbling to himself the whole way.

"Anyway," Kakashi continued. "I have decided that since you are SUCH good Ninja's, you should be given a treat in spirit of the holidays." Nobody said anything. He continued: "You are each to pick a name out of the hat that is coming around. The object of the game is to find a gift for the person who you choose and keep it a secret. DO NOT tell anyone of your pick or else, you'll ruin the surprise."

"Sweet, I got Ino! I know EXACTLY what I'm getting her," Lee said from his seat, wiggling his unibrow. Ino blushed a deep shade of red, sinking into her seat.

"LEE! DID I NOT JUST SPECIFICALLY TELL YOU NOT TO TELL ANYONE YOUR SECRET SANTA? THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED _SECRET SANTA_: YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL THE PERSON YOU PICKED! YOU MAKE ME WISH I LISTENED TO MY MOTHER AND BECOME AN ASTRONAUT!" He stormed out of the classroom. He didn't need to tell the class where he was going. It was pretty obvious he was going to read his special "book".

Meanwhile, in the middle of the classroom, a cherry blossom-haired teen was anxiously awaiting the hat to circulate its way over to her.

"Sakura, your not counting on picking Sasuke, are you? Every girl in the class has the same hope and I'm pretty sure he won't even care who gets him," Hinata told her friend as the hat arrived at her desk. "You just have to face the fact: he won't notice you," she concluded while making her selection from the hat. "Crap," she sighed.

"What's wrong, Hinata? You're secret Santa ISN'T the love of your life," Sakura teased, hinting her obvious crush on Naruto. "No," she groaned. "It's even worse: Its Karin!"

"No way," Sakura said, grabbing the slip of paper from her friend's hands. Sure enough, there it was in bold script, _Karin_.

Sakura was enjoying her friend's dismay about her pick on their worst enemy. "What can you say: what goes around comes around!"

"I don't need you quoting Justin Timberlake songs," Hinata said shoving the hat into Sakura's hands. Let's see if you have better luck than me!"

Sakura put her hand into the hat and prayed: _Oh God, please let it be Sasuke. I'll never ask for anything else as long as I live! _Finally, she took her hand out of the hat and read the slip aloud: "_Naruto Uzumaki_".

Hinata snatched the slip out of her hand. "No way!" Switch with me!"

"No way man! I may not like him, but he's a whole lot better than Karin!"

"Hmph," Hinata grumped. "I'm never speaking to you again!"

"Alright, then." Sakura knew her friend was just being dramatic.

Sakura sighed: _"I can't believe I never got him,"_ she thought to herself. _"Oh well, at least I don't have Karin,"_ she thought looking over to Hinata, who was currently crossing Karin's name off of her 'To Kill' list.

Halfway across the room, Sasuke picked a name out of the hat and read: "_Sakura Haruno_. Sakura?"

Neji leaned over his desk and peered at his friend's paper. "Sakura is the cute pink haired girl over there. This is your chance to make a move, Sasuke," he joked. Everyone knew Sasuke hated mushy love stuff. But maybe his thoughts would change after the activity.

Naruto waltzed over to Sasuke's desk. "Who'd you get?"

"You tell me first."

"Hinata. Who's Hinata, anyway?"

"That kid sitting next to Sakura," Neji replied.

"Hm. I've never noticed her before." Neji and Sasuke exchanged a knowing look. Everyone knew that Hinata practically swooned over Naruto evrytime he walked by her. Everyone but Naruto, that is.

"Well anyway," Naruto said. "We better get some ideas on what to get them: the exchange is less than four days away!"

"Just wrap yourself up and give that to her," Neji whispered to Sasuke.

On the far corner of the room, a red tempered and headed girl with glasses looked at her pick. _Sasuke doesn't know what's coming for him_, she thought to herself. _He is going to get the best present of all, _she finished.

Kakashi returned to the class. "Alright children, you're dismissed!"

Sakura was at the mall after class with Hinata getting a present for her Secret Santa.

"What are you getting Naruto, Sakura?"

"I don't know. How about we go in here?" They were at the food court and they went in to get something to eat. The cashier was absorbed in some magazine. "Excuse me," called Sakura. Can we get a gift certificate for food here?"

"Sure," the cashier replied. "Do you want the one for 30 meals? That should last about a month."

"Sure".

"Alright", that's gonna cost 60 dollars.

The cashier handed the card in a gift bag to Sakura.

"Naruto better be thankful for this," Sakura said. "There goes my weekly pay!"

Next, they headed over to an accessory store. "What are you going to give the wicked witch of Ninja academy?"

Hinata just walked over to the cosmetic section and got a mirror and headed back to the cashier.

"Your total is 19.95."

"That way," she explained to Sakura while taking out her money, "she can see how awful she looks!"

As the two girls were leaving the mall, Sasuke and Naruto entered. "Where should we go?" Naruto questioned Sasuke. Sasuke led the way into the accessory store. They looked around for about 5 minutes. Just as they were about to give up, something sparkling caught Sasuke's eye. It was a rhinestone necklace. _This will match her eyes perfectly_, Sasuke thought. He grabbed the necklace of the shelf_. "It compliments her hair colour, too! Just look at the way it shines in the light…"_

"Wow, that necklace is awesome! Too bad you won't get it!" Naruto said, gazing over Sasuke's shoulder.

"And why not?"

"Because, you have absolutely no taste!" Naruto laughed falling on the floor.

Sasuke paid for the item at the check out counter and hastily left the store. Naruto was just about to follow his friend out the store, when a turquoise bracelet caught him of guard. 'Wow, this bracelet is so cool! I'm giving this to…" His mind went blank. "Oh yeah! Her name was Hinata!" He ran over to the check out counter. "I'd like to purchase this bracelet, and could you have the box engraved with the name Hinata?"

"Sure," the cashier replied. "But its gonna cost you extra."

"How much extra?"

"Well, your total comes out to 40 dollars."

"Alright!" Naruto handed the money over to the cashier. He had a lot of money, since he stole Sasuke's wallet when he wasn't looking. He spotted Sasuke outside. As he was heading toward the exit, he noticed he had some extra money left. He turned and entered the food court and ordered a bowl of Ramen.

While Naruto was pigging out, Karin was the only one of her school mates not to leave her house. _"Sasuke will definitely be surprised,"_ she thought to herself.

THAT FRIDAY

"Okay class," Kakashi spoke to his students on Friday. "It is the last Friday before the holidays, and you are all anxiously awaiting to exchange gifts, am I right?" Nobody said anything. Rock Lee didn't want a repeat of what happened last time.

"I'm going to leave the room and you may begin your exchange. Have fun," he said as he left the room.

Nobody moved for a minute. Suddenly, Kakashi spoke loufly from the teachers lounge: "If you don't exchange your gifts in three seconds, we will have an exam right now." That was enough to get the kids exchanging. Most of them had already exchanged gifts and were getting to know their Secret Santa.

"Naruto, here you go. I'm your Secret Santa," Sakura spoke glumly. Naruto just stared at her for a long minute before he took the gift. He slowly opened it and his confused look turned into a happy one. "OH MY GOD! A MONTHS SUPPLY OF RAMEN! SAKURA, THANKS SO MUCH!" he yelled before giving her a huge hug.

"Um, your welcome, Naruto," Sakura replied before walking away.

Hinata got up and gave her gift to Karin. "Don't break it," she said before going to Sakura . "I wonder who my secret Santa is, Sakura said. Just then, Sasuke went up to Sakura.

"Merry Christmas, Sakura" he said. Unlike the others, he waited for Sakura to open her gift before walking away. She opened it and gasped. A tear slid down her cheek. She quickly turned to wipe it away.

"Oh, Sasuke. It's beautiful!" Before Sasuke could react to the compliment, Karin wrapped her arms around him. 'Sasuke," she cooed. "I'm your Secret Santa! Do you want to know what your gift is?"

"Not really," he said while peeling her off of his torso.

She took out a mistle toe from her pocket and handed it to him. "Wow," he said surprised. "I think I should test it out right now to see if it works."

"_No!"_ Sakura thought to herself. _He was totally going to do something. I hate Karin so much! Where's Hinata? Maybe I could borrow that Death list…"_

Her thoughts were interrupted by soft lips on hers. Karin gasped. "Sasuke! What are you doing?"

"This," He replied giving Sakura another kiss. Karin angrily stormed away. The two pulled away. "Listen Sakura, I think you really cool, and I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight…"

"I would love to," she replied, before pulling him in for another kiss. _"Daydreams really do come true,"_ she thought to herself.

"Well this looks like a happy ending for Sakura, but what about me?" Before she could do anything, Nruto walked up to her. "Hi Hinata, sorry I couldn't give you this earlier but I was so happy with my gift that I forgot. Anyway here you go," he said before handing her a small box with the name Hinata engraved on it. She opened it up and screamed. "Naruto, how did you know? I love turquoise!"

"Lucky guess," he replied with a shrug.

"Your so sweet! Thank you," she said, pulling him in for a hug.

"Your welcome Hinata! Listen, do you like Ramen, by any chance?"

"I love Ramen!"

"Alright! How about we go use my gift certificate tonight?"

"You bet" she said, giving him another hug. Suddenly, there was a huge crack, followed by a scream. Hinata laughed. "Looks like Karin opened her gift!"

Kakashi came into the class. "Wow, theirs more affection in here than in my book! AAAHH! This is too much! I'm going to read my book!" he cried, running back to the lounge.

Yup it looked like a white Christmas for the children of Ninja academy. All except for…

"LEE! IM GOING TO KILL YOU!" Ino chased lee around the school because of the gift he bought her.

Well, maybe not everyone. Happy Holidays!

REVIEW!


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